Of Witches and Wizards
by BuffyandBramble
Summary: Deny it all you like but school is the best few years of your life, especially if you attend Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. The prospect of things exploding at random, or your friends turning your hair pink on a whim never fails to make life a little more exciting, wouldn't you agree? A collection of oneshots. Prompts welcomed/requested!
1. I like Trains

**Author's note: Yo people, nice to have ya here! This is just me dumping 6 of my favourite OCs into the Harry Potter Universe, because it's good for me to keep practising writing them. It also helps to burn off excess muse, and get me back into the writing swing (I hope.)  
****Updates will be sporadic, because this is just going to be something I write to try and combat writer's block and stuff like that. Free writing really, no plot (It may or may not gain one), just random little scenes that pop into my head.  
**

**If you are at all interested in reading/following this, which would be awesome, please feel free to ask questions about the characters etc, or say if you'd like something in particular. When I say that I mean like "I'd like to see more of such and such", or "could we see more interaction between x & y" or a vague prompt like "how would he/she/they react if blah happened". Working from prompts might be good for me, though I'm not guaranteeing I'll do as you ask/suggest. Also, I'm not very likely to do specific scenes unless it fits with the characters. Still, doesn't hurt to ask, right? **

**Also, I fail at proofreading because I always end up skimming, so I apologise if there are any garbled bits.  
****And if you feel like it, you're welcome to critique. =) **

**Shutting up now. **

* * *

Platform nine and three quarters was, as usual, packed to the brim with students, parents and or other relatives, trolleys piled with cases, a variety of animals, as well as being bathed in the puffs of smoke coming from the gleaming crimson engine sat waiting. Bram sighed contentedly as he took in the sight, leaning on his trolley as a lazy grin stretched across his face. You couldn't really beat the first day of term when you went to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

Very much aware of the fact that, given where he was currently stood, he could easily get clouted by a first year student coming through the barrier and then forgetting to stop running when they saw everything for the first time (It had happened before), the 6th year student gave the trolley a push and headed off to a different part of the platform, green eyes looking to spot any of his usual companions as he brightly returned greetings. It was unusual for him to be there before all of them, so there was bound to be at least one of the group hanging about by now. It was just a case of spotting them amongst all of the people here, which could prove a bit of a challenge, especially if they'd decided to board early and secure a carriage compartment for them all. They should probably organise some form of meeting place in advance, though Bram supposed that would remove the fun of finding everyone.

It didn't take the teen all that long to spot one of the gang, leaning beside a carriage door minus a case, which Bram assumed must be on the train by this point. He grinned to himself and waved a hand in the air, hollering across the general noise of the platform.

"LUUUCCYYYYY! HEY LUCE, OVER HERE! DON'T PRETEND YA CAN'T HEAR ME! LUUUCCYYYYYYYYY!"

* * *

_~Of Witches and Wizards~_

* * *

"Bram's got an early death wish this year," Corradh commented as he sat on his trunk, back to his family behind him and astutely ignoring them. Rafael, who the comment had been aimed at, glanced up the platform in the direction his friend was looking to see Bram waving enthusiastically and nodded.

"Seems so."

"Do you think we should go and help him out?"

Raf turned back to give Corradh a level look, trying to judge whether or not the other boy genuinely meant to go and assist, or if he was just looking for an excuse to get away from his siblings and fussing mother.

"I'd rather not get involved," he said honestly, looking back up the platform again. Corradh sighed and leant back onto his hands, still watching what was going on over there with interest.

"Bram can look after himself," Raf reasoned. "You're just looking to go somewhere else."

"Whatever makes you think that?" Corradh asked dryly, turning back to look at the dark haired boy opposite him. Raf didn't answer, or rather, wasn't given the chance to as Corradh's mother now decided she needed to fuss over her youngest son, much to his great delight.

"Now dear, are you sure you have everything? Oh, I wish you'd let me cut your hair before you went back to school – you look a right state! You could have at least brushed it," she said with a frown as she tugged on a strand of Corradh's unruly mid brown hair.

"Mum!" he exclaimed, leaning away from her and trying to bat her away.

"If you hold still, I can fix it now before you-" she started, slipping her wand out of her robe pocket. However, she didn't get the chance to finish, as Corradh leapt away from her looking remarkably like he'd just been stung.

"No!" he exclaimed.

"But darling…"

"No, you're not going near my hair again! Not after last time!"

"Oh come now, it wasn't that bad. And I know where the spell went wrong last time, so if you'll just let me-"

"Absolutely not."

"Corradh, stop being so silly about this. You simply can't go to school looking like that!"

Corradh took a step backwards, a wary eye on his mother's wand which she was now brandishing at him like a pair of scissors. In return, his mother took a step forwards.

"Oh, leave him alone Evangeline," a musical sounding voice chipped in, and Corradh looked instantly relieved at the appearance of his uncle. "It'll just grow back anyway."

Evangeline gave her son a disapproving look, but pocketed her wand anyway and turned to instead greet to her brother-in-law, as well as fuss over the little girl who was clung to his leg and was watching what everything that was going on with an expression of awe on her face. Corradh offered a thumbs up and a thank you grin at his uncle, who winked back and continued on with his new conversation. Raf chuckled quietly to himself as Corradh shot a glare at his snickering older siblings, who had seen the whole exchange and were now miming something that Raf didn't understand, but Corradh clearly did if his irritated reaction and two fingered salute in their direction was anything to go by.

"Shall we go see if Bram's still alive?" he suggested, thinking that separating Corradh from his family now might be an idea before things got… interesting.

"Yeah, why not?" Corradh replied sunnily, glad for the distraction as he grabbed the handle of his trolley in one hand, the broomstick that was threatening to topple off in the other.

"See you in the holiday's mum, uncle Ewan! Bye Maisy," he called, addressing his little cousin too before starting off towards where they'd seen Bram earlier. He got a wave from his uncle and his cousin, but his mother fluttered over to try and flatten his hair down and finally kissing him goodbye on the cheek, despite his attempts to shoo her off. Raf chuckled again softly as he started following after.

"Merlin's beard, I hate my family at times," Corradh grumbled once he was free from his mother's clutches and the pair were heading up the platform.

"No you don't," Raf countered with some amusement.

"Shut up."

* * *

_~Of Witches and Wizards~_

* * *

When the two boys reached when they'd seen Bram earlier, they found the older student rubbing the side of his head and looking somewhat sheepish, thought not at all repentant. He had however stepped the other side of his trolley and it was now carefully placed between him and Lucio, who was leaning back against the Hogwarts Express as if nothing had happened.

"Oh hey guys!" Bram greeted when he saw Corradh and Raf appear. "Luce is being mean," he complained, fishing for sympathy and not finding any.

"You deserved it," Lucio said coolly, nodding a hello to the other two.

"Ya missed me really," Bram shot back, to which Lucio snorted, clearly not in agreement.

"So anyway, good to see you two again! You've not seen Taja or Rai anywhere have ya?" Bram asked.

"No, but they probably heard you earlier. They'll appear," Corradh replied.

"I wasn't that loud."

"Bram, the whole platform probably heard you."

"Oh, yeah right. If I'd wanted the whole platform to hear me then I would have yelled."

"Bram? Shut up," Lucio said, eyes watching an approaching pair as the whistle blew nearby. "Cutting it kind of close aren't you, you two?"

"We've been here ages," Rai said flippantly, rolling her eyes and spiking up her short cropped hair at the back by running her hand through it.

"We figured if we left it long enough you might've killed Bram by the time we got here," Taja added.

Bram pouted, an expression of mock hurt on his face, before sling an arm around their shoulders and grinning.

"Dream on girls. You'd hate to lose me anyway! You both know you'd never last without me," he grinned. He wasn't grinning for long, because almost immediately Rai elbowed him in the chest – hard.

"It's too early in the term for this," Taja grumbled, her usual scowl in place already and breezing past to jump onto the train, her luggage floating behind her and cage with a barn owl swinging from her hand.

"The one on the left," Lucio called to her over his shoulder. He looked back to see Rai right up close, a devious grin on her face as she waved something in his face.

"So, you ready to get your ass handed to you this year?" she asked. Lucio pushed her hand away, looking unimpressed.

"Please, with you as captain? Gryffindor may as well not even enter this year," he replied with a smirk.

"Oh get over yourself, that cup's Gryffindor's and you know it!"

"Get real, Verona."

"The joys of house rivalry have started already," Bram said aloud, to no one in particular.

"You made the Quidditch team captain Rai?" Corradh interjected, looking interested

"Yup! Luce did too, somehow. You trying out for the team again this year?"

"Definitely. When are tryouts gonna be?"

"No idea yet. I'll keep you posted though," Rai grinned, and Corradh nodded in confirmation.

"I hope you're not going to be biased whilst picking this team Rai," Bram teased, ruffling her hair up and swiftly dodging out of the way of her elbow, having learned from last time.

"Are you guys planning on getting on this train or not?" Taja called, appearing at the carriage window. "Or are you just going to stand there all day? Because please feel free to do so; it would be nice to have a peaceful year at school for once."

"Dream on, you don't get rid of us that easily," Bram replied, giving his wand a flick to send the remaining luggage on board, and the 5 who were still stood on the platform hopped onto the train after it. Within another minute, the crimson engine gave a shrill whistle and started to pull away, destination: Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.


	2. Playing with beans

**Author's Note: Hi again guys, here's another chapter. This one takes place straight after the previous one in case you'd not guessed! ;) There seems to be a fair bit of speech in this chapter, but hey ho, you get to see them all interacting with each other a bit. As with the last chapter, if you have any questions or ideas for things you'd like to see, please feel free to say. ^^ **

**I think that's everything this time so... enjoy? **

* * *

"_On the road again, just can't wait to get on the road again…"_

"Bram, same rules as last year. You're not allowed to sing."

"I'm not sure you can count that as singing, Rai," Corradh grimaced.

"You guys are just jealous of my amazing skills that make you lot all sound bad," Bram countered, leaning back into the comfortable seat and grinning at his companions, though he had wisely stopped his musical endeavours. The only one in carriage compartment that would hesitate to shut him up forcefully was Raf, and he was sat the furthest away from him. Bram quite fancied the idea of surviving until they actually got to Hogwarts.

"Bram, I could strangle Lance and he'd sound better than you do," Taja growled, gesturing to the barn owl that was sat in the cage.

"His ears are more sensitive than ours too – can you imagine what that must have sounded like to him?"

"I still say that no one can possibly be that bad at singing. I think he puts it on."

"You have too much faith Corradh. Though I guess that does sound like something Bram would do. If you can't be the best of the best, be the best of the worst. I still don't think he can sing anyway, even if he is putting some of that on," Rai mused.

"Ever occurred to you guys that he's doing it to mess with your heads?" Lucio asked.

"That, and he's an aggravating twat and he knows none of us can stand it when he 'sings'," Taja added.

"Point taken. Hang on Luce, don't you mean _our_ heads? Doesn't he mess with yours?" Rai pointed out, jabbing a finger in the boy's direction.

"I don't care enough for it to bother me Rai. Just so long as he shuts up," he replied, arms folded across his chest and looking uninterested in the conversation at hand. Bram on the other hand looked highly amused, sitting back lazily and listening quite contently.

"I'm right here ya know guys?" he interjected when there was a moment in the debate.

"Unfortunately," Taja quipped.

"So mean," Bram sighed. "Anyway, how was everyone's summer? I've not had a chance to ask you how America went Rai," he said, turning to look at the wiry girl he was sat beside. Rai rolled her orange-brown eyes.

"How do you think it went?" she asked.

Bram shrugged, pretending not to have a clue, though in reality he had a good idea.

"You went to America?" Raf asked, this being news to him entirely.

"Yeah. You know how my mom lives over there, with my little sister? I had to go over and spend some time with them both. Why they couldn't have just come here I don't know. Boring as hell over there," Rai grumbled. "I only got back a couple of days ago. Mom paid for a hotel room for a couple of nights, so I've been in London rather than back home," she explained, pre-empting Bram's next question of where the hell had she been then. "She and Poppy are heading back over later on today, something about waiting for time zones. Oh, and she says hi as well Bram."

"Hey, she remembers me!"

"You're pretty difficult to forget," Corradh said, amused. "So what did you do over there?"

"Errr…. Got dragged shopping; got dragged around New York; got dragged shopping again; had to play with Poppy; got told off for not letting her give me a makeover; got forced into getting a makeover; got grounded for going free running on my own. Oh, and then got dragged shopping some more," Rai listed, ticking each activity off on her fingers as she went. "And Mom wonders why I choose to live over here with Gramps: I hate shopping. And makeovers."

"Especially makeovers from nine year olds?" Bram asked, trying not to snigger for fear of an elbow to the ribs.

"She didn't try and put ribbons in your hair did she?" Lucio asked, smirking.

"Pink ones. And glittery pink eye shadow," Rai frowned, not even looking as she dug her elbow into Bram's ribs when he failed to hold in the laughter any longer.

"What I wouldn't pay for a photo of that!" he snickered, rubbing his side. "You have really bony elbows by the way."

"Good, they cause you more pain that way. So, everyone else? Anything interesting happen over the summer? Anyone go anywhere?" Rai asked, wanting to change the subject away from pink ribbons and makeup.

It was mostly shaking of heads in response.

"Well you guys are boring."

"I had to work over the summer," Raf said, and Lucio's response was just to shrug and not say anything.

"Dad buggered off on holiday with Kami. I declined the offer to go too," Taja answered, an edge to her voice.

"She has yet to fall and break her neck then?" Lucio asked, dark amusement colouring his tone.

"I'm working on it," was the reply.

"I got roped into work more often than I would've liked. Freddie's broken his arm and Robert quit, so they were short staffed," Bram said. "And whatever you get told Rai, I'm not guilty. Innocent of all charges."

"I'll believe that when I see it," she muttered. "Corradh? What about you?"

"My oldest brother got married, so there was chaos for a couple of weeks before that because Mum had the _entire_ family come, extended included. And then on top of that, for the actual thing there was all of her family, and then loads of Dad's work friends and their families, and then a load of other people who I think were just handed invites for the sake of it, because I have no idea who they were or why they were there. Chaos," he repeated and not looking desperately pleased with the memory.

"You should've escaped and moved in with one of us for a bit!" Bram exclaimed.

"I'd have been skinned alive if I missed it, otherwise I would have asked," he sighed.

"I'll admit, I don't particularly envy you for having a family that size," Lucio commented, looking about as sympathetic as he ever did, which wasn't very.

"I bet there's never a dull moment though," Raf added.

"That's the damned problem."

The idle conversation continued for a time as they all caught up with each other's various adventures and misadventures over the summer as the Hogwarts express ploughed on north from London, eating up the miles. After a little while they all settled down and the compartment quietened, asides from the occasional comment or small conversations between just a pair or trio, as opposed to all six of them joining in. At one point in the journey Taja let Lance out from his cage so that he could stretch his wings out a little, and the barn owl had, after giving them a flap, decided that he was going to settle on Raf's forearm for the rest of the journey and was perfectly content to let the quiet teen sit and stroke his chest feathers absent-mindedly.

* * *

~Of witches and Wizards~

* * *

"Anyone want these?" Rai asked, holding up a box of Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans, her expression reading that she'd just picked one of a less than palatable flavour.

"You do this every time you buy a packet Rai," Bram told her, taking the box from her. "I don't know why you buy them. You eat a few, hit a nasty one, and then fob them off onto someone else."

"Well I like _some_ of them," she retorted, though she did look slightly sheepish.

"She does it because she has this stupid belief that one day she'll get a box with no nasty flavours in it," Lucio stated. Rai aimed a kick at him under the table, but missed.

"I do not!"

"Do so."

"Don't start you two," Taja warned.

"There's some funky colours in here… Hey Corradh, how lucky ya feelin'?" Bram asked, peering into the box.

"You two are not going to play that damned game again are you?" Taja asked, raising an eyebrow. "Ugh. I swear neither of you have a sense of taste."

"I take it you don't want to join in then?" Corradh asked with a laugh as Bram grinned and poured the beans out onto the table. "You going first?"

"Nah, I'll be nice, you can," Bram replied, apparently pretty confident in his ability to win this.

"You're ridiculous, both of you," Raf said, looking on incredulously.

"Admit it though, it's hilarious to watch them," Lucio said dryly, also watching the game begin.

"You guys act as if this isn't a tradition! You've gotta play this if you have a box of beans!" Corradh stated as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. He'd pulled his wand out now and gave it a flick, causing a specific bean to rise in the air and hover there until Bram took a hold of it, looked at it as if trying to decide what flavour it was before shrugging and eating it. He chewed for a moment, before swallowing it and grinning triumphantly.

"Ha! That was an apple one… I think. Either way, perfectly edible." He slid his own wand from his pocket though unlike Corradh, murmured the spell incantation under his breath as he gave the dogwood wand a flick and levitated a greyish coloured bean. Corradh then repeated Bram's previous actions, though he had to pause before he actually swallowed, and coughed slightly before he spoke.

"Definitely black pepper that one."

The game thus continued, each of them selecting a bean for the other to try and eat without gagging or spitting it out. The other four all found it great amusement, watching as the boys would look at a bean apprehensively, only to find it was entirely edible, or far more amusing, their faces when they got one of an… interesting flavour. As the game went on, it started to look like more of a case as to who was going to bail and not touch another bean, the spread on the table steadily decreasing and both Bram and Corradh becoming less and less trusting of the innocent looking beans. They weren't all that far from Hogwarts by the time that the game finished, Bram caving first and spitting out what had been a fairly safe looking honey-coloured bean.

"I don't even know what that was. And I probably don't want to," he grimaced as Corradh punched a fist in the air in celebration.

"So Corradh wins again," Rai observed, amused as she stepped back into the compartment, having gone out a moment ago to get changed into her school robes. "I think you're a fool for challenging him Bram, you know he's too stubborn to give in."

"I can dream," Bram replied, still looking somewhat funny.

"Yeah well, hurry up and get changed. We'll be there any minute now," Taja said, putting Lance back into his cage and shutting the door on him as Rai swapped seats with Bram and Lucio stood to let Corradh out.

* * *

~Of Witches and Wizards~

* * *

Both boys returned just before the Hogwarts Express pulled into the station and the group exited together, weaving around the enthralled looking first years and heading straight for carriages that they knew would be waiting to take them to the castle. They piled into a vacant one and the moment the door was shut it set off, moving swiftly towards Hogwarts. Rai took the opportunity to fish her quidditch captain's badge out of her pocket and affix it to the front of her robes, having forgotten to do it before when they were on the train.

"God I'm starved. I hope the Sorting Ceremony doesn't take too long," Bram moaned.

"I'm not even going to ask how you still have an appetite," Taja frowned.

"Because he's _Bram._ What other answer could you need?" Rai asked rhetorically and Taja hummed in agreement.

"I still don't get why the first years go by boat," Raf mused aloud as he watched the dark scenery go past out of the window.

"It's so they can drown the ones they don't want in the school before they get Sorted," Lucio replied without hesitation. When he got a couple of looks from the others, he shrugged. "The giant squid deals with the bodies, and they memory charm the others into forgetting what they saw." He sounded deadly serious as he said this, his face impassive. Taja was the only one who didn't look phased by these statements, and as such Bram decided it was appropriate to whisper loudly, "Seems the Slytherins know something we don't."

Rai clipped him over the head.


	3. Never enough timetables

**Author's note: Hello again! Sorry meant to have this done sooner. I got halfway and hit a snag, because I'm indecisive and couldn't quite make up my mind who studied what. I'm working on what I think and what wiki says in that NEWTs are similar to A-levels, and as such 3-4 is the usual amount to do, with 5 being unusual. Also, unlike in the books not a lot of them do D.A.D.A because in this time frame there's no great threat from an evil wizard. As such, these guys don't really see it as so important. Had this been set in Harry/Voldemort's time they'd probably all have done it. **

**Also, it has been ages since I read those books, so please do point out if I'm making errors. I also can't remember if Rowling capitalises the house names or anything, and I think I've done it at times but not at others. **

**Also also, I apologise that this is quite a boring chapter with them just mindlessly chattering. I'll try and make the others more interesting, which'll probably mean I'll slice the group down and only focus on a couple of them in a lesson or something. **

**And just to clarify: Corradh and Raf are in 5th year, whilst Lucio, Taja, Rai and Bram are all 6th year. If tehre's anything else you want me to clarify just ask. =) **

**The usual deal with requesting stuff (See Chap. 1) still applies.**

**Over and out!**

* * *

~Of Witches and Wizards~

* * *

"Why are there first years _everywhere?!_" Taja growled, flinging up her hands in frustration as she dodged another group who had just ground to a halt in front and looked very uncertain as to which way they should be going now. Lucio shrugged as he walked alongside her, his hands in his pockets and glancing coolly at anyone who looked like they were about to come and ask him for directions. It seemed to be as effective as it usually was, considering no one had approached him on the subject and Taja had likewise been avoided. The slytherin pair did not give off a helpful aura as they made their way to the Great Hall, though a few smarter first years had realised that following the older students was perhaps the best course of action. They were also smart enough to realise that they needed to leave a decent gap between themselves and the 6th years they were tailing.

Asides Taja hissing various curses and insults under her breath at the younger students, there was silence between both of them as they walked: Lucio disliked idle conversation as a general rule, and Taja wasn't the type of girl to chatter or socialise in the first place. Considering the fact that neither was particularly people friendly, few would believe that they would actually call the other a friend – though they'd both need a little encouragement to actually admit that. Many found it enough of a surprise that they actually went near each other, and most would be inclined to think it was merely a tolerance of each other, perhaps an alliance at a stretch, rather than any form of true friendship that the due shared. Such a way of thinking was most commonly found in pupils that were in the same kind of age group, and was arguably justified. It was hardly a secret that Taja and Lucio had despised each other for the first few years that they'd known each other and it was a common misunderstanding that they still did. A forgivable mistake however, for it wasn't uncommon to find the pair verbally assaulting each other or threatening the other with a sparking wand. The only ones who were rarely bothered by this were the remaining four in the group of rather unlikely friends, being some of the only students in the school who actually understood the dynamics behind situations like that.

However for all that their friendship was debated by some, there was no doubt that they definitely made a combination brilliant at unnerving first years, and other years too for that matter, as they walked through the various corridors that led up from the slytherin common room.

"I swear, I'm going to drown them all before they even get to school next year," Taja muttered as they slipped through the grand doors and into the hall, a swift glance at the enchanted ceiling showing an overcast September sky that looked suspiciously like rain. There were already a fair few people at the slytherin table, laughing and gossiping amongst themselves and the pair immediately gravitated towards the least populated part of the table out of sheer habit as they sat down, the quiet stretching between them once again as they settled down to breakfast. It was fairly subdued for a time, Taja happy to sit silently with her coffee and her eyes shut and tune the world out, whilst Lucio's pale blue eyes roamed the expanse of the hall, taking it all in and picking out specific people or encounters in between bites of his food. Consequently, he was the one who spotted the approaching paper crane that was flying across the hall and held out his hand, letting the origami land on his outstretched palm before he unfolded it. Taja, who had noticed the movement beside her, had started paying attention again and was picking up a slice of toast as Lucio scanned over the note. When he set it down in between them she gave it a quick glance over and harrumphed at the short message scrawled on it.

_Life of the party much?_

The writing was easily recognisable as Rai's and Taja looked over to the gryffindor table as Lucio rummaged in his bag to bring out a quill and bottle of ink with which to write a reply. She soon spotted Rai's dark, short cut hair and her hazel eyes met Rai's orange-brown ones briefly across the hall. Rai grinned and waved and Taja's response was merely to raise an eyebrow, and even though Rai wouldn't be able to see the gesture she'd no doubt be able to guess the other's reaction as Taja took a sip of her coffee again and broke eye contact.

"She is too awake in the mornings," she commented as Lucio uncapped the ink and wrote a short reply:

_Piss off. _

"Just 'cause you hate mornings," he replied, waiting for the ink to dry before he gave his wand a swish to refold the paper and send the crane back across the hall. It was a common method of communication for the group, though the piece of origami that the notes were sent as tended to change depending on who it was that originally sent the message. For a time there had been somewhat of an unspoken competition as to who could create the most elaborate piece of origami, though of late they'd all reverted back to using the simpler animals and shapes for ease of it all. They got a reply back fairly swiftly.

_You're mean. :(_

Lucio seemed to contemplate just sending the message back without a response for a moment or two, before scribbling down a short response in his small writing.

_What do you want?_

_Have you two got your timetables yet?_

_No._

_Damn. Organised q. tryouts yet L?_

"Have I organised tryouts yet?" Lucio read aloud, looking somewhat disbelieving as he circled the no he'd written previously a few times and sent the note back.

"It's the first morning back in Hogwarts, why haven't you?" Taja jabbed, sarcasm lacing her tone. Lucio grunted in response and went back to his breakfast. Taja looked amused and thought about just how much the competition between gryffindor and slytherin was going to step up, now that Rai and Lucio captained the quidditch teams. The pair were competitive with each other anyway, and their natural house rivalry always managed to exaggerate that need to better the other. Taja also knew her companion well enough to presume that he would already have a few ideas for a team floating around in his head (as well as suspecting that none of them looked very similar to last year's team) and that he was merely waiting to see what his timetable was before he finalised a date for team tryouts.

* * *

~Of witches and Wizards~

* * *

The arrival of the post had also seen the handing out of this year's timetables and so once the group, sans Bram, had finished breakfast they convened in the entrance hall to compare and discuss before they were required to head off to their first lesson.

"It's your last year of O. this year isn't it?" Taja asked as she looked over Raf's shoulder to read through his timetable. "Heh, what do you think the odds are they've purposefully arranged it so that hufflepuff and gryffindor have potions together this year?"

"After last year? High. And I bet the hufflepuffs are going to be thrilled with that," Lucio smirked as he and Rai swapped timetables. Corradh pulled a face and swatted at the older.

"I resent that. And yes Taja, last year of O. , finally."

"And I pity Raf," Lucio retaliated as he dodged out of the way. "The hell Rai, you're only doing 3 N.E. ? I thought you were doing 4."

"Yeah, I failed my Care of Magical Creatures O.W.L, remember? Wasn't allowed to take it this year and it was the only other one I'd have done."

"An A's not a fail," Raf commented, handing Corradh his timetable.

"Fail-schmail, still not enough to do it an N.E.W.T," Rai shrugged.

"So what are you all doing for N.E. ?" Corradh asked.

"Transfiguration, Defence against the Dark Arts and Herbology," Rai replied, followed by Taja answering,

"Potions, Transfiguration, Charms and Herbology."

"Aw damn, I'm not gonna spend most of my classes with you am I?" Rai groaned, though everyone knew she wasn't really serious.

"If you are, you're not copying my homework every time," Taja growled in reply, perfectly serious.

"You've just got Transfiguration together," Lucio said, seeing as he was the one with Rai's timetable. "And I'm doing Arithmancy, Ancient Runes, Transfiguration and Potions.

"What about Bram?" Raf asked, taking his timetable back from Corradh and slipping it into his bag.

"Speaking of Bram, where _is _he?" Corradh added, looking around for the other student.

"He'll have slept in," Taja replied, also slipping her timetable away once she'd made a note of where she was headed first.

"I know he was doing Arithmancy and Defence Against the Dark Arts," Lucio replied.

"Charms, Potions and Transfiguration as well," Taja finished.

"He's doing 5?" Raf asked, sounding surprised. Bram had a reputation for a reason, and that reputation did not match a student taking 5 N.E.W.T.s.

Rai shook her head, "Six." She was then met with incredulous looks. "He's doing Muggle Studies as well, or at least, he's doing the exam. I don't think he intends to go to any of the lessons," she explained.

"_Why?_" Taja asked. "He doesn't need to."

"It's an extra N.E.W.T he said. And it's hardly like he'll find it difficult, he could probably sit the exam now and pass. Actually, you could as well Lucio, why don't you do the same?"

"Because I don't see the point; I'm muggle-born, I don't need to do an exam to prove I know how about muggles."

"It's an extra exam," Rai shrugged.

"I suppose Bram never does homework anyway, so it'll hardly be an excessive workload for him," Taja mused.

" N.E.W.T.s… what does he want to do when he leaves school?" Corradh asked.

"God knows. Nothing but piss about if he had his way I'd expect," Lucio answered.

"Problem with Bram is he could do anything he wanted to if he put his mind to it," Rai said.

"Hence why the teachers all hate him. And speak of the devil; cutting it a little close to the bell aren't you Bram?"

"Sod off Taja," Bram mumbled around the slice of toast stuck he had in his mouth once the bell had stopped ringing. He fished an already crumpled timetable out of his robe pocket, green eyes flitting across the surface as he located where he was supposed to be first. "Arithmancy first? Really?" he whined when he found what he was looking for, stuffing the parchment back into his pocket and finished the toast in record time. "Not how I wanted to start the day."

"Tough," Lucio told him, shifting the bag he had slung over his shoulder and prepaing to head off. Just as everyone started to say their brief goodbyes and head off in their separate ways, he smirked with a sudden realisation and asked a question loud enough for the departing others to be able to hear too. "You done the essay we had to do for the first lesson back? The one we had to have done else heads would roll?"

Bram's expletive for an answer, followed by the horrified reprimand from a nearby teacher, echoed throughout the entrance hall and caused nearly every other student to pause and look, asides the sympathetic bunch who were still walking off very much amused.


	4. Rain rain

**AN: Hey, look who vanished. That would be me. Also, I shall apologize now for whatever happened in the last chap with all the missing letters/words and stuff. I'll get round to fixing that at one point, possibly. **

**Anyway, this chapter is a pile of rubbish written on the fly for the sole reason I felt I should write something to go with this, which is me requesting that you guys leave/send me some prompts to write from. I'm housesitting for 3 weeks now, and as such feel like this would be the perfect opportunity to do some writing. Writing from prompts is something I feel would be a good thing for me to do, but in order to do that I actually need some prompts in the first place please? It would be much appreciated. I need something I can be planning out in my head whilst I walk dogs. =)**

**I apologize for the shoddiness of this chapter in advance, as well as for anything weird going on this spaces and stuff. I think I caught most of them, but I may not have done. I've found the spacebar on this laptop likes to not work when I want it to and also add in a load of extra spaces when it feels like it. It's a tad annoying. **

* * *

"This weather sucks," Rai stated bluntly as she stared out of the library window at the dark skies and heavy rain that fell from them.

"I kind of like it," Corradh said as he flicked through the pages of the book he had open before him to try and find a quote for his essay, and as such missing the incredulous look that the short haired Gryffindor gave him in response.

"How?" Rai then felt the need to ask as she looked from him to the window, and then back again. Corradh glanced up at her and shrugged before going back to his work, quill scratching across the page as he started writing again.

"I dunno, I just do I guess."

Rai shook her head in disbelief before slumping down on the table in front of her, ignoring the empty roll of parchment that should have had her own homework written on it by this point in favour of wondering what time it was. It was the last lesson of the day and everyone else was still in class, and as such, Rai was bored out of her mind. Usually at this point in the day she and Corradh would have headed out to an unofficial quidditch practise, but considering the torrential rain outside that hadn't exactly been an option. Even if the pair had been willing to get absolutely drenched, neither would have been able to see much beyond the end of their broomstick. Still, that didn't mean that Rai approved of Corradh's decision to come and do homework in the library instead. Rai never approved of homework, which was why hers was rarely done.

"Gahhhhh," Rai groaned dramatically as she dropped her head all the way to the table and then banged it against it a few times for good measure. Corradh chuckled and offered her an apologetic grin even though she couldn't see it.

"Sorry Rai, but I want to get this done so I can keep my grades up."

"You used to be cool. Now you're nothing but a swot," Rai grumbled, lifting her head to glare daggers at him. "I'm hanging out with a swot. Urgh."

"You agreed to this idea," Corradh reminded her.

"Only because I didn't think you'd actually do homework."

"I'm not Bram you know."

"Really?"

"Yeah, really."

"Damn. I suppose the lack of _anything interesting_ going on should have tipped me off."

"That and the fact that I'm actually doing homework."

"That too."

Corradh paused momentarily to dip the quill into the ink and he checked his watch as he did so.

"Period's nearly over, everyone'll be out of lessons soon," he told his friend.

"Good, because I don't know if I've mentioned, but you're boring."

"Why don't you practise some spells or something until people get here. ... not on me," he then added as an afterthought before the idea crossed Rai's mind. He did feel somewhat sorry for her and slightly regretful that he wasn't being better company right now, but it wasn't like she didn't have anything to do, it was just that she was choosing not to do it. He didn't exactly rejoice the idea of doing homework either, but if he wanted to get the grades it needing doing and it needing doing properly, which unfortunately took more time than he would have liked. Rai harrumphed at him and didn't move for a moment, but shortly sat up and pulled her wand from her pocket. She stared blankly at it for a moment as she tried to decide what to do before pointing it at her unused parchment and giving it a swish. Immediately it folded itself into the same of a palm tree, complete with leaves fluttering in an unseen tropical breeze. Another swish as it refolded into a rat, and a second swish had that rat running about the table and climbing over the piles of books, as well as getting threateningly close to knocking over the uncapped jar of ink Corradh was using. This fact didn't go unnoticed and he stopped momentarily to put the lid on before getting on with his work again. The parchment sat on top of his text book for a moment and cleaned its whickers for a moment before it was turned into a bird with a long tail that took to the air and circled above the two students.

The bell rang throughout the school, and the sound was shortly followed by the sounds of students filling the halls and heading about on their own business now that they were free from lessons for the day. A few students filtered into the library, likely to do their own homework but Rai paid them little mind as she kept the bird circling in the air above. Every so often she'd make it land on a bookshelf or do a loop in the air for the sake of it, but generally she just kept it flying in a small, neat circle.

The bird suddenly burst into flames in a remarkably phoenix-like fashion, startling Rai out of the world she'd sank into without realising, and raining ash down on Corradh's head much to his great delight. Bram just grinned and pocketed his wand as he walked over to the table where Lucio was flinging his bag down and dropping into an empty seat, raising an eyebrow as Corradh tried to flick the ash out of his unruly hair without much success.

"What are the odds we're going to see Taja?" he then asked as he looked to the window.

"Zilch, she's probably drowned on the way back from herbology," Bram supplied as he too sat down at the table. "An' if she hasn't, she'll be headin' straight back t' the common room to dry off. Homework, seriously?" he then asked as he looked over Corradh's shoulder to see what the younger student was up to. "You're not actually supposed to do it ya know. It's all a ploy set up by the teachers."

"Remind me how you got into Ravenclaw?" Lucio said dryly. Bram shrugged as he reclined back in the chair as best he could.

"Ya've had an interestin' last lesson then?" he then commented in Rai's direction as she twirled her wand in her fingers.

"Thrilling. You have no idea how not-bored I've been."

"Ya could have come t' Arithmancy with us."

"I think that might have been preferable," Rai replied and Bram snorted in amusement, poking Corradh in the arm.

"Ya really know how t' give a girl a good time," he jibed. Corradh studiously ignored him, not rising to the bait.

"I'm not sure you can count Rai as a girl," Lucio commented and immediately countering the jinx that was sent in his direction as a reply.

"I'm sorry, and we can count you as a boy?" Rai retorted.

"Look, the pair o' ya are gender-confused, we get it. Let's not make some big ho-hah 'bout it, 'kay?" Bram interrupted in his best attempt at playing peacekeeper. Both wands were then trained on him in answer.

"On a different subject entirely," Corradh interjected, spying them all getting kicked out of the library should this continue any further. "Does anyone know where Raf is?"

"No idea. Does he know where we'll be?" Bram asked, seizing the chance at distracting his friends from attempting to hex him.

"Where else would we be? We always meet here. Me and Corr just happened to be here earlier than usual."

"He's probably just got held up, you know what he's like," Lucio answered.

"Hyper organised?" Bram asked dubiously. "Not like him to be late."

"No, I mean he'll have stayed out of the way of the crush. More students than usual in the halls, and he's hardly going to push his way through is he?" Lucio stated flatly.

"I suppose..."

"He's not actually turning up, I just couldn't think of a question," Corradh then supplied as he started to pack away his things, his essay now finished.

"What? What do you mean he's not turning up?"

"He volunteered to help set up tomorrows Care of Magical Creatures class, so he was going straight there. I forgot to tell you guys earlier."

"So it's just going to be us four?" Rai confirmed and Corradh nodded.

"If Taja's not turning up either, yeah."

"She won't be. So, what do we do until dinner then?" Bram asked. There was silence for a moment until Rai grinned in a remarkably wicked manner.

"Well, I've got an idea..." she started.

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**AN: I'll leave it up to you guys what that idea is. And as I said at the top, please either review and leave me a prompt/suggestion, or PM me one!**


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